Five Leaves Left

Artist: Nick Drake
Label: Umvd Import
Category: Music

Average customer rating:

Media: Audio CD
Number Of Discs: 1

UPC: 042284291521
EAN: 0042284291521
ASIN: B000026FOA

Release Date: 2003-05-06

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Listmania:

10th Grade pt. 4
No... not another list...
Rock's Best Debut Albums Pt 2
A Nature Song Playlist
1000 Essential Rock Albums, pt 5 of 25
The beauty of pain.
Calm Storm : The Rock Poet
ETC.
Desert Island Discs
When Music and your soul collide

Tracks:

Time Has Told Me
River Man
Three Hours
Way To Blue
Day Is Done
'Cello Song
The Thoughts Of Mary Jane
Man In A Shed
Fruit Tree
Saturday Sun

Similar Items:

Bryter Layter
Pink Moon
Made to Love Magic
Either/Or
Our Endless Numbered Days

Customer Reviews:

about volkswagen and pink moon.......2007-03-04

Some reviewers are critical of Volkswagen's use of Pink Moon in one of their commercials. I'm not. I praise it.
I lived in Germany when the commercial was aired the first time, - it came on TV one late night. And like many other viewers, I was hypnotized.
Did we all run out to buy cars? No. But we all called or wrote to VW, to ask who the singer was.
After that, I have always had a warm little spot in my heart for VW, becaused they introduced Nick Drake to the world. Money here, and money there. I still believe there was a large part heart in the making of that commercial.

I like Nick Drake better than Bob Dylan, Simon & Garfunkel, and Leonard Cohen.......2007-01-18

I understand that that's quite a bold claim I'm making, placing this little known songwriter ahead of the greatest folk singer songwriters of our era. Now I love all the aforementioned artists, so let me list my reasons. The lyrics can be read by themselves like poetry, they are less obtuse than Bob Dylan (they make sense), less sullen and artsy than Leonard Cohen (they are clearly song lyrics, but no less expressive), and no doubt more profound than Simon & Garfunkel. I really connect to his lyrics which are clearly borne out of deep despair, but because they are so beautiful and paired with such beautiful music they aren't sullen and melancholic. Rather, the music is cathartic in its despair and uplifting in its beauty. In fact, I think his lyrics are so universal that I can use the chorus from one of his most famous songs to describe him:

Time has told me
You're a rare rare find
A troubled cure
For a troubled mind.

How true. Now as far as my personal taste, I prefer Nick Drake and especially this album for my own reasons. I'm a sucker for virtuoso finger picking on acoustic guitar, achingly beautiful string arrangements, and cathartic singing. Nick Drake is virtuosic with all 3 on this album, so I'm really happy I found this, I actually wasn't crazy about him at first but I think he might now be one of my favorite artists. As far as where to start, go for this album or Pink Moon. This album has more musical depth instrumentally (lots more strings etc.), and Pink Moon is more tortured and much sparser, which in some ways makes it more powerful. Play this in the background while you work, then go to bed early and listen to this in the dark with some good headphones. The only con is that his music is not catchy like the 3 artists I compared him to. I think that's all that held him back. Enjoy!

The Start Of The End..........2006-12-15

If you ask most of the general public who Nick Drake is about 90-95% won't know who you are talking about. That is because Nick was unknown during his lifetime and today he is still a relatively underground artist. However, all his studio albums are regarded as classics and all three frequently pop up on lists of great albums.

This was the album that started it all, the fascination. His debut album is generally regarded as being less depressing than it's successors. It contains a lot more orchestration and world music influences. Overall, it is a lot more richer in a generical sense.

The album starts off with "Time Has Told Me", a great little tune, which has some amazing instrumentation and has touches of country music inspiration. The electric guitar part is truly irresistable, while Nick's voice is strangely uplifting. Next is "River Man", this song is in a rather unusual time signature of 5/4. This gives the song and unorthodox structure. The string section is breathtaking.

The next song "Three Hours" is the first of two songs on the album to feature a slight world music touch courtesy of superb conga work by Rocki Dzidzornu. Following on from that is a song that is widely regarded as one of Nick's best and signature tunes, "Way To Blue". This song was also the title of a compilation of Nick's work released posthumously in 1994.

"Day Is Done" continues the rather autumnal, strangely mellow feel of this album. This song along with most in Nick's career features a string section arranged by his good friend Robert Kirby, who has gained fame for his work with Nick. "'Cello Song" s probably most notable for being featured in "The Good Girl" a movie starring Jennifer Aniston and Jake Gyllenhaal. It is used in the scene where Jake's character commits suicide. The superb cello work which gives the song its name is also very reminiscent of the cello part in PJ Harvey's song "Plants and Rags".

7 tracks in, "The Thoughts Of Mary Jane" may be viewed by many to be a reference to the infamous drug marijuana, this may be true as Nick was known to be a recreational marijuana user. "Man In A Shed" is a beautiful song whose lyrics give a meaning of isolation and seclusion, obviously autobiographical in Nick's case.

The final two songs are really great. It starts off with "Fruit Tree", whose lyrics offer a chilling insight into the mind of this tortured artist. The lyrics to this song have often been used as a template for Nick's life and sometimes to describe his mental state. Finally, "Saturday Sun" lifts the mood slightly up a bit. This song features Nick on piano and offers a glimpse of what subsequent albums could have been if he lived and experimented with his secondary instrument. Overall it is a beautiful track that has some jazzy bits.

In conclusion this album is definitely not as depressing as "Pink Moon" or as varied as "Bryter Layter", but it is still a magestic effort nonetheless. Nick is one the few artist whose every song is flawless, and even if he had lived longer subsequent albums would have almost guaranteed to be perfect.

A perfect album........2006-10-15

I was lucky enough to hear to original LP when I was younger as my father was a huge fan of the ever thoughtful and often melancholy genius of Drake. There's nothing I can add that hasn't already been said with one exception. The re-master of this album is showing its colors in that there is a noticeable gain hiss from the original session tapes. This may have been a problem to deal with in the late 90's when this was re-mastered and re-issued. But with todays "de-hiss" technology, it effectively eliminates this slight noise that blankets the entire album. They really should reconsider re-re-mastering this album, again, from the original tapes, and not from this master to make this a completely perfect album in both execution and final CD (or DVD Audio) pressed result.

in search of a Master in search of a Slave.......2006-07-12

This is a perfect album, with perfect singing so intimate you feel like he's whispering in your ear, perfect guitar playing from the acknowledged "Hendrix of the acoustic," and perfect arrangements with perfectly tasteful orchestrations and perfect contributions from the likes of Richard Thompson and Rocky Dzidzornu.

How this man avoided superstardom in his own (tragically brief) lifetime is anyone's guess... more than anything his refusal to tour and perform behind his albums probably did the most to conceal him from the public. I suppose none of that matters now that so many people have jumped onto the Drake bandwagon and he is almost a household name, better later than never.

That said, there are no words to describe the shimmering beauty of not just these songs, but every single one the guy ever recorded. Several of these tunes are legitimate entrants into the ongoing, mythological "Most Achingly Gorgeous Song Ever Written" competition, if there were ever to be such a thing. "River Man" in particular is as close to Heaven that you'll find on Earth, odd as that seems for a song that alludes to the Underworld and Death. Definitely the most melancholically beautiful song ever attempted in 5/4, that's for sure.

I adore every note of this record, but the standouts for me are the cryptic tale of the mysterious Jeremy in "Three Hours" (driven exquisitely by Rocky's percussion) and the opening song "Time Has Told Me," which features an unbelievably soulful guitar commentary by Thompson, an inarguably certain first-ballot Music Hall of Famer in his own right. Some people point to these two songs and a few others to make the claim that they prove Nick was gay, but that's all useless speculation that will never be resolved and who cares anyway? One of his talents is in the oblique resonance of the lyrics (much like in Sandy Denny's work), where you don't quite get the whole picture of what he's talking about but it brings you to tears anyway.

If you have never heard or heard of Nick Drake you should just buy the whole catalog of his 3 albums and the 2 compilations released posthumously ("Time of No Reply" and "Made to Love Magic") immediately and dive right in, because like I said he made no missteps whatsoever, just rare and complete perfection throughout.

Music CD:

Music CD

Music CD

Music CD

For Venus ~ Camilla Ringquist

The Final Countdown ~ Europe

Welcome Tonite ~ Railway

Calypsos From Trinidad: Politics, Intrigue and Violence in the 1930's ~ Various Artists

B Sides ~ Manu Dibango

Les As du Musette: Gus Viseur in Brussels ~ Gus Viseur

World of Karneval ~ Various Artists

Collection d'Or ~ Jean Gabin, Yves Montand

Um So Coracao ~ Original Soundtrack

Don McLean ~ Don McLean